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A Little Background On The Issue

In October of 2012 Superstorm Sandy made landfall in the continental United States. Sandy became 2012’s deadliest and most destructive storm, and the second most costliest in the United States history.

Not only did Sandy destroy property and take human lives, but it also took a tremendous toll on acres of wildlife habitat along the east coast. In response, grants were proposed and awarded to affected areas, including the Shinnecock Indian Nation. The Nation was awarded a 3.7 million dollar grant from Department of the Interior through National Fish and Wildlife for its plan to restore beach and marine habitat damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

Who We Are

We are the Coastal Habitat Restoration Project (CHRP), a partnership of people from Shinnecock Indian Nation’s Environmental Department, and partners from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk’s Marine Department as well as Suffolk County.

Through a multi-step process of beach nourishment, the building of a living oyster reef, salt marsh modification, and plantings of native plants from under the water to at the treeline/salt marsh we seek to restore 3,000 feet of shoreline to Shinnecock, add acres of habitat for marine life such as oysters, crabs, fluke, flounder (and untold hundreds of other wildlife living in our waterways) as well as halt the erosion of the land in that area.

The project is funded by the Department of the Interior through a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency Competitive Grant Program .